Motorcycles and aging vehicles negate efforts to cut emissions

Adianto P. Simamora ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Bangkok   |  Tue, 11/11/2008 10:49 AM  |  Headlines

The rapid rise in motorcycle numbers and continued operation of old three-wheelers remain Asia's main challenges in effecting emissions cuts to deal with climate change, transportation experts say.

Bert Fabian, transport program manager of the Clean Air Initiative for Asian Cities (CAI-Asia), said most small towns in Asia still used two- and three-wheel vehicles as their main mode of public transportation.

"More people prefer to use motorcycles and three-wheelers in urban areas, since they're cheaper and consume less fuel. But their emissions are the major challenges," he told participants at the Better Air Quality 2008 (BAQ 2008) conference here Monday.

A joint study this year by CAI-Asia and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) lists Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines as the five Asian countries with the highest motorcycle ownership.

The study shows Malaysia has 300 million motorcycles as of 2008, compared to 275 million in 2005. It is estimated the number will rise to 390 million in 2015.

Indonesia, home to more than 230 million people, currently has 125 million motorcycles -- an increase from 80 million in 2005 -- with CAI-Asia predicting motorcycle ownership will grow to 150 million by 2012 and 200 million by 2025.

"The number of motorcycles is also rapidly growing in the Philippines. This is directly related to the deterioration of public transportation," Fabian said.

"The rising number of vehicles will boost fuel consumption."

CAI-Asia also highlighted the use of aging vehicles, still widely used across the region.

A 2005 study revealed the aging three wheelers in Indonesia, more popular as bajaj, had an average age of 25 years, compared to nine years in Thailand.

The average age of cars in both countries remained at between six and 10 years.

About 900 transportation experts, policymakers and stakeholders from around the world have gathered in Bangkok until Friday to discuss efforts on reducing air pollution and cutting harmful emissions from the transportation sector.

The World Health Organization estimates 800,000 people die prematurely due to exposure to urban air pollution. Of this figure, some 50,000 are in Asia.

CAI-Asia said emissions of air pollutants, including particulate matters (PM10) and carbon monoxide (CO) from the transportation sector, showed a declining trend due to the use of cleaner technologies and fuels under the implementation of the Euro standard.

"But CO2 emissions are a different story. There is no up-and-down trend. It keeps rising because of rampant fuel consumption," Fabian said.

He proposed three efforts to deal with such emissions: reducing emissions per kilometer of trip, cutting emissions per unit of transport, and slashing the number of trips.

"We can get the most emission cuts by reducing the amount of traveling. However, it takes behavioral changes for the people (to do so)," he said.

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Henry Manoe (not verified) — Tue, 11/11/2008 - 4:09pm

Your article "Motorcycles and aging vehicles negate efforts to cut emissions" JP 11/11/2008, correctly identifies pollution as a major problem with the increasing use of motorcycles in Indonesia and the SE Asia Region in general. Lack of public transport, high profit margins for motorbike producers, an increasing younger population, and inexpensive credit arrangement to purchase a motorbike are driving factors for this trend. Besides the higher CO2 emissions (and other pollutants such as lead, because most of Indonesia still has not unleaded petrol for sale) there are two other very negative results from the increasing motorbike use. They are: less walking and more noise. These two are hardly ever addressed by a forum such as the "Clean Air Initiative for Asian Cities". As far as I can tell there is no similar "initiative" for noise pollution. Our population is joining the ranks of many other countries where the population is less physically active and obesity has become a severe health problem. Noise is also overlooked as something that one has to live with; it cannot be curbed. However, noise creates many neurological ailments often much more disabling than obesity. Noise also reaches everybody in its path, whether you like it or not. Still governments do little to curb this menace. Perhaps the JP should start a FORUM on noise in Indonesia; how people perceive it and what can be done about it?

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